Improving Yields and Profit with Controlled-Release Urea on Rice and Eggplant in Hubei

China is the world’s leader in both rice and eggplant production. Farmers in the Hubei province prefer to use commercial, soluble fertilizers such as urea and compound fertilizers; however, nitrogen (N) is frequently over used and phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) are commonly under applied. To address the problem of fertilizer overuse and nutrient imbalance, the IPNI China Program, with the Wuhan Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, carried out a project to demonstrate the effects of polymer-coated controlled-release urea (CRU) on rice and eggplant production and profitability.